We
are pleased to present a roster of distinguished speakers and
multifaceted breakout lectures on the AGM theme “Jane Austen’s Letters
in Fact and Fiction.” Sessions designated “Fact” relate to
Austen’s own correspondence; those
designated “Fiction” relate to her use of letters in the novels.

Session A, Friday, October 7

Elaine BanderDawson College/Montreal, QuebecJane
Austen’s Letters: Facts and
Fictions
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Jane Austenís Letters: Facts and Fictions.”Persuasions 27 (2005):
119-129. The Austens were novel-readers and
not ashamed of it. Austen’s letters are filled with allusions to novels
and poetry, which provide a shorthand way of communicating with her
family. Bander explores these literary allusions and shows how this
mode of family discourse shaped Austen’s assumptions about, and
relations with, her readers as she began to publish. Fact A:1

Emily
Auerbach University of
Wisconsin-MadisonSearching
for Jane Austen: Restoring the “Fleas” and “Bad Breath”
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Searching for Jane Austen: Restoring the ‘Fleas’ and ‘Bad
Breath.’” Persuasions 27 (2005): 31-38.When Austen’s letters were published
during the Victorian era, they were censored to remove language and
sentiments considered offensive. Remarks about body parts and
childbirth, for example, and satiric views of people and events were
eliminated or changed. Auerbach details both the censorship of the
letters and the restoration of deleted passages to illuminate
historical views of Jane Austen. Fact
A:2

Elizabeth
Fay University of
Massachusetts-BostonScandalous
Stories: Recycling Untoward Acts Austen's letters mention a number of
public scandals, including the disastrous marriage of the Prince Regent
and Princess Caroline. Fay compares references to scandal in
Austen’sprivate correspondence with her use of letters in the novels to
treat scandals, such as Lydia’s elopement in Pride and Prejudice. Fay also
examines the royal family’s use of letters in actual and threatened
publications. Fact A:3

Miriam
Rheingold Fuller Central
Missouri University/Warrensburg“I
suppose you have heard of the . . . letter?”: Letters Reported but
Unrecorded in Jane Austen’s FictionAusten’s novels abound with letters,
some recorded verbatim and others known only through reports or
conjectures about their contents, such as the letter that draws Col.
Brandon hastily away on business. Fuller discusses various types of unrecorded letters
in the novels and Austen’s sophisticated use of them for plot and character development. Fiction A:4

Judith
Judson Arlington, VALicit
Authoresses: Female Letter Writers of the Georgian Era Letter writing has for centuries
been the principal means of expression for women. Beginning with a look
back in history to Mme de Sévigné and other famous
correspondents, Judson examines and quotes distinguished women letter writers of the Georgian era,
including Fanny Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Mary Wollestonecraft, Lady Caroline Lamb, and Austen’s cousin Eliza
de Feuillide. Fact A:6

Jonathan
Gross DePaul
University/Chicago, ILJane
Austen and the Epistolary Novel This lecture focuses on Austen’s
place in the history of epistolary fiction, which includes many novels
written for and popularized by circulating libraries. Gross discusses
in particular Emma, or the
Unfortunate Attachment, an epistolary novel published in 1773 by
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and how it sheds light on Austen’s
more masterful writing. Fiction A:7

Session B, Saturday, October 8

Cheryl Kinney and Cynthia Lopez Physicians/Dallas,TX“A
Dangerous Indulgence”: Jane Austen’s Illness and her Letters Drs. Kinney and Lopez review
Austen’s letters for symptoms of her final illness, explore possible
diagnoses, including Addison’s disease and other candidates, and survey
the treatment and remedies Austen would have endured. The lecture also
discusses the medical profession in Regency England and the effect of
the Apothecary’s Act of 1815 on the care Austen received. Fact B:1

Elisabeth
Lenckos University of Chicago
and Newberry Library/Chicago,
IL“.
. . and inventing elegant letters,” or, Why Don’t Austen’s Heroes Write
More Often?When Emma fancies herself in love
with Frank Churchill, she daydreams, “inventing elegant letters.”
Frank, however, writes no love letters, at least not to Emma. Lenckos
examines the significance of the failure of Austen’s heroes to write
letters to the heroines. The appearance of a letter, such as Captain
Wentworth’s at the end of Persuasion,
is all the more effective for its rarity. Fiction B:2

Jodi
A. Devine University of
Delaware/Newark, DELetters
and their Role in Revealing Class and Personal Identity in Pride and Prejudice
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Letters and their Role in Revealing Class and Personal Identity in
Pride and Prejudice.” Persuasions 27 (2005):
99-111.The letters in Pride and Prejudice speak volumes about
their writers. Mr. Collins’s letters show a lack of breeding, while the
Gardiners’ embody grace and good sense. Devine demonstrates that Austen
employs letters to provide details about the identity, class, and
social etiquette of the writers, as well as to reveal the personality
of the characters who receive them.
Fiction B:3

Zoyd
Luce Graduate Student/Dublin,
CALetter
Writing
in the World of Jane Austen During Austen’s lifetime letter
writing was the chief means of communication and a significant aspect
of daily life. Luce explains letter writing styles, the basic tools of
paper, quill pens, and ink, developments in the British postal system,
franking and postage, and examples of good and poor letter writing form. Fact B:4

Sarah
Emsley Harvard University,
Cambridge, MALaughing
at our Neighbors: Jane Austen and the Problem of Charity“Mrs. Hall was brought to bed
yesterday of a dead child, owing to a fright.—I suppose she happened
unawares to look at her husband.” Can such cruel comments in Austen’s
letters be reconciled with her view of charity? Emsley surveys critical
attitudes toward this uncharitable aspect of the letters and resolves
the issue by looking at Austen’s grounding in classical and theological
traditions. Fact B:5

Zoe
Coralnik Kaplan Marymount
Manhattan College/New York, NYFashions
and Furbelows, Vistas and Vanities in the World of Jane Austen Austen’s letters are richly filled
with references to the furnishings, accessories, and settings of her
Georgian world. Kaplan explains and provides illustrations of the
clothing, furniture, art, architecture, food, china, landscapes, and
houses known by Austen and mentioned in her correspondence. Fact B:6

Christopher
Nagle Western Michigan
University-KalamazooThe
Epistolary Passions of Sympathy: Feeling Letters in Persuasion and Frances Burney’s The Wanderer
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “The Epistolary Passions of Sympathy: Feeling Letters in
Persuasion and Burneyís
The Wanderer.” Persuasions 27 (2005):
88-98.Focusing on the last completed
novels of Austen and Burney, Nagle compares Wentworth’s letter with a
letter of similar importance in The Wanderer. He argues that
Austen’s revision of Persuasion
to have Wentworth reveal his feelings in a letter makes the novel less
Burney-esque and more effective; it also emphasizes the sympathetic
attachment of shared feelings between Wentworth and Anne Elliot. Fiction B:7

Jane Austen, Caroline Austen and Virginia
Woolf: A Trio of Writers and their Letters Austen wrote amusing letters to her
niece Caroline, and Caroline, later in life, recorded stories about her
Aunt Jane, including Cassandra’s account of a gentleman admirer of
Jane’s at a seaside resort. The speakers read from the correspondence
of aunt and niece and discuss their relationship. A letter written by
Virginia Woolf has a surprising connection to both Austen and R.W.
Chapman, editor of the first edition of collected letters. Fact C:1

Elsie
G. Holzwarth Attorney/Chicago,
ILAusten
and the Admiral: Commemorating the Bicentennial of the Battle of
Trafalgar with Connectionsbetween
Jane Austen and Horatio Nelson
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Austen and the Admiral: Commemorating the Bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805.” Persuasions 27 (2005):
163-172.Austen’s letters and novels reveal
her knowledge of the Royal Navy and its most famous Admiral. Her
brother Frank served under Nelson, though through bad luck he missed
the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805. Holzwarth commemorates the
battle, during which Nelson died, and illuminates the many connections
between Austen and the Admiral. Fact
C:2

Deborah
J. Knuth Klenck Colgate
University/Hamilton, NYEpistles
and Epistolary Jokes: Sense and
Sensibility and Pride and
Prejudice as Revisions
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Fun and Speculation:
Sense and Sensibility and
Pride and Prejudice as Revisions.” Persuasions 27 (2005):
39-53.Learning from her models Samuel
Richardson and Fanny Burney, Austen knew how to use letters to
illuminate the psychology of her characters. Klenck examines the
evidence that Austen’s first two novels were originally written in
epistolary form and discusses the subtle ways in which Austen employs
the letters she selectively retained in the published versions. Fiction C:3

Kathleen
Anderson and Susan E. Jones Palm
Beach Atlantic University/FLThe
Jane Austen Diet: The Female Body in Austen’s Letters
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005).
“The Jane Austen Diet: The Weight of Women in Austenís Letters”
by Kathleen Anderson. Persuasions 27 (2005): 75-87.
“Fragment and Focus: Jane Austen and the Art of the Blazons” by
Susan E. Jones. Persuasions 27 (2005): 69-74.Austen’s references to the female
body and its parts reflect a satirist’s eye. Her remarks on short
necks, long legs, and other
anomalies suggest the Renaissance technique of blazon, in which the
poet details parts of a woman’s body to portray perfection and its
opposite. In search of a diet to correct the flaws catalogued by
Austen, the speakers also look at food mentioned in her letters. Fact C:4

Christine
Alexander and David Owen
University of New South Wales/AustraliaLady
Susan and the Epistolary Mode: An Exercise in Editing and
Reassessment
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Lady
Susan: A Re-evaluation of Jane Austenís Epistolary Novel.” Persuasions 27 (2005):
54-68.The editors of the newest edition of Lady Susan discuss Austen’s
manuscript, its critical reception when first published, and their own
editing process. They redress the balance in favor of this often
under-appreciated work and argue that Austen’s early use of the
epistolary form heightened her appreciation of the function of letters
in her mature fiction. Fiction C:5

Akiko
Takei Yamaguchi
University/JapanJane
Austen and “A Society of Sickness”
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Jane Austen and
‘A Society of
Sickness.’”Persuasions 27 (2005):
142-151.Fully half of Austen’s letters
mention ailments of a relative, acquaintance, or Austen herself, and
several refer to popular treatments, such as bloodletting. Takei
examines Austen’s attitude toward illness and hypochondria, as
evidenced in her letters and novels, and draws conclusions about the
author’s balanced viewpoint concerning health. Fact: C:6

Alice
Marie White University of
Southern California/Los AngelesAusten’s
Message to Samuel Richardson: Rewriting Sir Charles GrandisonThis lecture disputes the common
assumption that Austen admired Samuel Richardson and, in particular, Sir Charles Grandison. White shows
that Austen’s letters and novels parody Richardson, rather than revere
him. In her own fiction Austen rewrites Richardson’s courtship plots,
which ignored the hero’s flaws, and rejects his notion of heroines who
are “pictures of perfection.” Fiction
C:7

Session D, Saturday, October 8

Carrie
Bebris Novelist/Adams, WI
Letters as Storytelling Tools

Drawing
primarily on examples from Pride and
Prejudice and Sense and
Sensibility, Bebris examines Austen’s use of letters from a
novelist’s perspective. Letters serve to reveal character, lend
immediacy to the account of an event, give voice to the silent, provide
essential details, overcome the recipient’s reluctance to hear
unpleasant facts, and propel the plot.
Fiction D:1

Barbara
Wenner University of
Cincinnati/OHFollowing
the Trail of Jane Austen’s Letters
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Following the Trail of Jane Austenís Letters.”Persuasions 27 (2005):
130-141.This illustrated lecture examines
Austen’s letters as rare artifacts: what they look like, why there are
so few, who owned, sold, and bought them, and where they are now. Learn
why there are more Austen letters in the U.S. than in England. Owners
of the letters have included Jerome Kern, J.P. Morgan, Amy Lowell, and
Sandy Lerner. Fact D:2

Anne-Marie
Edwards Author/Southampton,
EnglandJane
Austen by the Sea Austen visited seaside resorts in
Devon and lived in the coastal city of Southampton. Her 1804 letter
from Lyme describes in detail her delight with the seashore. Through
correspondence with her sailor brothers, she also learned about life at
sea. Edwards discusses Austen’s seaside experiences and how she put
them to use in her fiction, particularly in Mansfield Park and Persuasion. Fact D:3

Louise
Penner and Cheryl L. NixonUniversity
of Massachusetts-BostonWriting
by the Book: Jane Austen’s Heroines and the Art and Form of the LetterLetter-writing manuals were popular
in the Georgian era and influenced the style of private correspondence.
Penner and Nixon explain and illustrate the conventions of address,
grammar, and formality that the manuals taught. They also discuss
letters written by Austen’s heroines, some of which follow the dictates
of the manuals, while others deviate from the models. Fact D:4

Mary
Basson University School of
Milwaukee/WIMr.
Darcy’s Letter: A Figure in the Minuet
Published in Persuasions 27 (2005). “Mr. Darcyís Letter - A Figure in the Dance.” Persuasions 27 (2005):
152-162.Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth reveals
his balanced character better than description and dialogue could and
sets in motion Austen’s theme of the tension between reason and
emotion. Using musical selections to illustrate the classical minuet,
Basson shows how the novel’s structure corresponds to the minuet form
and how Darcy’s letter functions as a figure in the minuet. Fiction D:5

David
Andrew Graves Software
Architect/Monte Sereno, CAVocabulary
Profiles of Letters and Novels of Jane Austen and her ContemporariesAn analysis of the words used by
Austen in her letters and novels reveals a close correlation between
the two, confirming the sense of recognition readers feel when they
turn from the novels to the letters. Graves explains this correlation,
compares it to the letters and novels of Burney and Edgeworth, and
discusses Austen’s writing patterns and favorite words and phrases. Fact D:6